Challenging and Changing the News: Media Reporting in the Age of Migration

November 23, 2018

On the 6th of December, the University of the West of Scotland is organising a symposium about how the media is reporting on migration, and specifically, on how it conveys mages of migrants that fuel hostility towards them. The symposium will bring together people from academia, third sector organisations, people working in media to reflect on these questions:

- What messages and images of migrants and migration are dominant in media reporting?
- What are the differences in the portrayals of migrants across various types of media?
- Can ‘the media’ be held accountable for negative opinions against migrants?
- Do media workers have opportunities to represent migrants and migration in different ways?
- How can migrants themselves be empowered to be present in media reporting?
- The symposium not only discuss the situation today but also future ideas on how to challenge negative, biased and sometimes outright false representations of migrants.

Preliminary symposium programme:
Simon Goodman (Coventry University): ‘Understanding anti-refugee arguments in the “refugee crisis”’
Ariel Swyer and Catherine Lido (University of Glasgow): ‘Revisiting news-coverage effects on attitudes towards asylum seekers’
Nicola Black (University of the West of Scotland): 'The "scapegoating" of Roma in media representations of Glasgow's Govanhill area'
Sharon Coen (Salford University): ‘Part of the solution? Exploring the virtuous cycle in media and migration’
Simone Baglioni and Francesca Calo (Glasgow Caledonian University): ‘The construction of the “refugee crisis” in the British media’
Giovanna Fassetta (University of Glasgow): ‘The normality of life in abnormal circumstances - views from the Gaza Strip’
Catriona Stewart (The Herald and Times Group - journalist): title tba
Daniela Sime (University of Strathclyde): title tba